Version 3.7 of WordPress, named “Basie” in honor of Count Basie, is available for download or update in your WordPress dashboard. This release features some of the most important architectural updates we’ve made to date. Here are the big ones:

Updates while you sleep: With WordPress 3.7, you don’t have to lift a finger to apply maintenance and security updates. Most sites are now able to automatically apply these updates in the background. The update process also has been made even more reliable and secure, with dozens of new checks and safeguards.

Stronger password recommendations: Your password is your site’s first line of defense. It’s best to create passwords that are complex, long, and unique. To that end, our password meter has been updated in WordPress 3.7 to recognize common mistakes that can weaken your password: dates, names, keyboard patterns (123456789), and even pop culture references.

Better global support: Localized versions of WordPress will receive faster and more complete translations. WordPress 3.7 adds support for automatically installing the right language files and keeping them up to date, a boon for the many millions who use WordPress in a language other than English.

For developers there are lots of options around how to control the new updates feature, including allowing it to handle major upgrades as well as minor ones, more sophisticated date query support, and multisite improvements. As always, if you’re hungry for more dive into the Codex or browse the over 400 closed tickets on Trac.

A New Wave

This release was led by Andrew Nacin, backed up by Dion Hulse and Jon Cave. This is our first release using the new plugin-first development process, with a much shorter timeframe than in the past. (3.6 was released in August.) The 3.8 release, due in December, will continue this plugin-led development cycle that gives much more autonomy to plugin leads and allows us to decouple feature development from a release. You can follow this grand experiment, and what we’re learning from it, on the make/core blog. There are 211 contributors with props in this release: